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Deezer plans to implement a new streaming model with Universal Music Group later this year — a step that Deezer CEO Jeronimo Folgueira called “the most ambitious change to the economic model since the creation of music streaming and a change that will support the creation of high-quality content in the years to come.”
In an announcement on Wednesday (September 6), Deezer said it would roll out this “artist-centric” system in the French market starting in the fourth quarter of 2023. The new model aims to reward artists and songs that are driving listener engagement while also de-prioritizing white noise and other “functional” audio. “The sound of rain or a washing machine is not as valuable as a song from your favorite artist streamed in HiFi,” Folgueira declared.
As part of the new model, plays racked up by “professional artists” — which Deezer defines as acts with more than 1,000 streams per month spread across 500 unique listeners — with a “double boost.” (The announcement did not define what that “double boost” entails.) Similarly, songs that are driving listener engagement — the metrics for measuring this were also undefined — will receive the same bump.
In addition, Deezer plans to replace “non-artist noise content” — the sounds of whales or washing machines — with its own functional music, while also excluding this audio from the royalty pool so that payouts to raindrop recordings don’t come at the expense of payouts to singer-songwriters. “We are now embracing a necessary change, to better reflect the value of each piece of content and eliminate all wrong incentives,” Folgueira said in a statement. “There is no other industry where all content is valued the same.”
“With this multi-faceted approach, music by artists that attracts and engages fans will receive weighting that better recognizes its value, and the fraud and gaming, which serves only to deprive artists their due compensation, will be aggressively addressed,” added Michael Nash, UMG’s evp and chief digital officer. He also noted that the model may change in the future: “As the ever-evolving music landscape continues its rapid transformation, UMG and Deezer will rigorously address the impact of these changes as we incorporate new insights from data analysis and fine-tune the model, as appropriate.”
UMG’s quest for a new streaming ecosystem has been a major talking point for the company since January. That month, in a letter to staff, UMG chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge called for the development of “a model that will be a win for artists, fans, and labels alike, and, at the same time, also enhances the value proposition of the [streaming] platforms themselves, accelerating subscriber growth, and better monetizing fandom.”
Since then, UMG announced partnerships with both Tidal and Deezer to try to determine what that model might look like. Streamers can do “a better job of monetizing these high integrity, high intense artist-fan relationships,” Nash told financial analysts in March. “We’ve been speaking with platforms… about the enhancement of offers to the consumer that reflect the engagement with artists that are really driving the economic models of the platform.”
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek, however, appeared less enthusiastic about implementing a major change to the streaming model during an earnings call in July. “Most studies we’ve done on this [show] that even if you change it to a user-centric or an artist-centric approach, it seldom leads to these gigantic differences that most people perceive it to do,” he said.
“But we’re always open to hearing how we can make the system [fairer] to more artists,” he added.
Spotify is currently testing a feature that would put song lyrics on the app behind a paywall for free users, the company has confirmed to Billboard. “At Spotify, we routinely conduct a number of tests, some of those tests end up paving the way for our broader user experience and others serve only as an […]
Taylor Swift‘s “Cruel Summer” is the latest song to enter Spotify’s Billions Club. The music streaming service announced on Sunday (Sept. 3) that the hit single from the pop superstar’s 2019 album, Lover, has surpassed 1 billion streams. “It’s been no cruel summer for @taylorswift13 this year,” potify wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “Congratulations on […]
Spotify led a group of high-flying streaming stocks this week by gaining 14.8% to $157.54 per share, increasing its market capitalization by nearly $4 billion to $30.7 billion. The world’s largest streaming company, which boasted 220 million subscribers as of June 30, has clawed back nearly all its losses since its share price dropped 14% […]
The Weeknd is welcoming Taylor Swift to a club that was once so exclusive, he was the only member. Following news that the “Anti-Hero” pop star had become the only other artist to ever reach 100 million listeners on Spotify, the Idol creator took to Instagram to post a sweet message of congratulations, featuring a […]
Bad Bunny is the latest artist to celebrate their streaming success by visiting Spotify’s newly launched Billions Club series. The Grammy-winning global superstar stopped by the series to enjoy a “Billions Brunch” with some of his closest friends and collaborators.
“The feeling of having 1 billion streams for this song right now is the same emotion I felt when I got 5,000 plays for the first time,” Bad Bunny said. “For me, it’s just as big knowing that there are people who want to listen and want to enjoy what you make.”
The song in question is “Tití Me Preguntó,” a track from his historic Un Verano Sin Ti album that officially reached 1 billion Spotify streams on Jan. 23. According to Spotify, Bad Bunny has 12 songs with more than 1 billion streams each on the platform — more than any other artist in Spotify history. He has accumulated 58 billion streams on the service, reigning as Spotify’s most-streamed artist of the year for the past three years.
In the video, Bad Bunny feasted on a lavish meal set on several plaques that commemorated his other songs with over 1 billion Spotify streams, including “Yonaguni,” “Dákiti” (with Jhayco) and “MIA” (with Drake). In addition to basking in his recordbreaking streaming success, the “Después de la Playa” singer also recounted the story behind the creation of “Tití Me Preguntó.” When tasked with telling the story of the song in 10 seconds, he replied, “That’s impossible. That’s a lifetime of love and romance.”
“It’s a song that was born very spontaneously,” he added. “All of the people mentioned in the song exist in real life. Nothing I say in that song is a lie, including the part where I say I want to fall in love, but I can’t.”
Nonetheless, Bad Bunny declined to specify which aunt he was singing about, because “they’ll get jealous and create a mess.”
Toward the end of his Billions Club episode, Bad Bunny made sure to thank his fans for their continued support, as well as his mother and father for believing in him “not just in music, but with every decision [he’s] made” in his life.
Bad Bunny has earned 11 top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including his sole No. 1 single “I Like It” (with Cardi B & J Balvin). On the Billboard 200, he has notched five top 10 projects, two of which have reached the ranking’s summit: El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo (one week) and Un Verano Sin Ti (13 weeks).
As the Hollywood strikes continue, five of the most popular late-night talk show hosts had an idea to meet up every week to discuss the complexities behind the ongoing discussions and protests. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news As a result, Spotify revealed on Tuesday (Aug. 29) […]
The year of Taylor Swift is continuing strong. The superstar broke another record on Spotify on Tuesday (Aug. 29), becoming the first female artist in the streaming platform’s history to reach 100 million monthly listeners. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Spotify announced the news on social media, […]
Post Malone got the ultimate shout-out this week when his debut breakthrough 2016 single, “White Iverson,” crossed the 1 billion streams mark on Spotify and the man who inspired it gave Austin some love.
“Congrats on 1 billion Spotify streams,” retired 11-time NBA All-star Allen Iverson said in a video tribute posted by Spotify. “The whole world loves this song and I’m honored to be a part of it. Keep that same form, Post.”
According to the commemorative clip, “White Iverson” became the 10th song to cross that magic mark back on April 10, a momentous occasion that was celebrated with a memorial plaque sent to the rapper during his two-night stand at London’s O2 Arena in May.
In the video — which was part of Monday’s roll-out of the second episode of Spotify’s Billion Club: The Series show — we see Malone unwrap his latest shiny honor, and in typical fashion he wonders if he could shotgun a whole beer through it. He then promptly sets up a game of Backstage Plaque Pong, using the Spotify honor as an excuse to play his favorite drinking contest. He also takes time to tell the story behind the music.
“I made the beat and I wrote the song but I didn’t know how to work ProTools and so I took it over to my buddy’s house,” he explains as he, of course, pours a full beer into the plaque after promising to find a “cool spot” for his new hardware in the studio he’s building at home.
“It’s such a cool thing looking at something and saying ‘we did that… the team did that and the people like the music that much enough to play it a billion times,’” he said. “I couldn’t be more… I guess grateful is the word I’m looking for. It feels super cool that the song does connect with people, and I’m just happy to bring joy into anyone’s life when I can. It’s an amazing feeling for me, and that really gave me the confidence and courage to keep attempting to do what I love. I just appreciate all the support, and it’s the most beautiful feeling in the world for me.”
Malone also noted that beloved point guard Iverson’s shooting inspired his own legendary lights-out beer pong game — which AI also gave props to in his message — ending with footage of Iverson miming a jumper fading into Posty arcing a perfect shot into the suds-soaked plaque. “White Iverson” debuted on Malone’s SoundCloud channel in 2015 and then served as the lead single from his 2016 debut album, Stoney.
The singer is currently on tour in support of his Austin album, with the final show on his North American summer tour slated for Saturday (Aug. 19) at Glen Helen Amphitheater in San Bernardino, CA.
Check out the Spotify video below.
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Two weeks into earnings reports for the second quarter of 2023, the music streaming business is showing that subscriptions — not advertising — are the dependable driving force behind the industry’s growth.
Subscriptions — which accounted for 65% of the U.S. recorded music business in 2022, up from 63% in 2021, according to the RIAA — aren’t affected by economic forces that influence how brands spend their advertising dollars. Consumers continue to pay monthly or annual fees for Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Deezer and other offerings. Even faced with higher prices (see “pricing power” below), more people are opting for subscription services.
More information will be gleaned in the coming weeks from earnings results from Warner Music Group (Aug. 8), HYBE (Aug. 8), Sony Music Entertainment (Aug. 9), Tencent Music Entertainment (Aug. 15), Cloud Music (Aug. 24) and Anghami (no date set).
Based on earnings by Universal Music Group, Spotify, Deezer, Believe and Reservoir Media, here are three takeaways from reported results through Aug 4.
The subscription market is holding up well. Spotify beat expectations for both monthly active users (MAUs) and subscribers, “aided by improved retention and marketing efficiencies,” the company explained in its July 25 shareholder presentation. Spotify’s premium subscribers grew 17% year-over-year to 220 million, beating its guidance of 217 million. Spotify’s MAUs increased 27% year-over-year to 551 million compared to guidance of 530 million. Universal Music Group attributed subscription growth in its recorded music segment — 13% in the second quarter and 11.6% in the first half of the year — to “broad-based growth in subscribers across all major global platform partners.” Reservoir Media CEO Golnar Khosrowshahi cited Spotify’s “higher than expected subscriber numbers” in the company’s Aug. 2 earnings call and said its strong quarterly results “reflect increasing demand trends for streaming music globally.” Not all subscription services made gains, though. Deezer lost 100,000 subscribers from June 30, 2022, to June 30, 2023, and Pandora ended the quarter with 6.2 million subscribers, down 100,000 from 6.3 million a year earlier.
Services have pricing power. Spotify raised its individual subscription plan in the U.S. on July 24 to great fanfare. After all, the price had gone unchanged since the service launched in the United States in 2011, although the family plan price increased by $2 per month in 2021. Spotify is relatively late to the game, though. Deezer raised its price from 9.99 euros to 10.99 euros in January 2022 — a major factor in the company’s direct subscriber average revenue per user climbing 4.9% year over year. Apple Music and Amazon Music both raised their prices last year as well. And according to Deezer CEO Jeronimo Folgueira, the increase had “pretty much no impact on churn” — the number of subscribers who leave a service over a period — and “clearly demonstrated that music is highly undervalued, and that platforms like us have more pricing power than initially anticipated.” That said, Folgueira stated that Deezer’s guidance for full-year revenue growth does not include another price increase later in the year.
The advertising market continues to have challenges. At Spotify, music advertising revenue grew in the “mid-single digits” year-over-year, lower than the 12% (15% at constant currency) growth in total ad-supported revenue. That implies advertising revenue from podcasts, which was up 30% year-over-year, contributed to most of the growth. Spotify also noted “softer pricing due to the macroeconomic environment” that offset double-digit gains in impressions. Universal Music Group’s ad-supported streaming revenues were up 5% in the second quarter and 2% in the first half of the year. UMG’s CFO Boyd Muir said “it’s too early to call a positive turnaround in the market.” Believe is “still impacted by the weak ad-supported monetization,” said CFO/chief strategy officer Xavier Dumont. The advertising malaise extends to broadcast radio, too. Weak national advertising “remained the main factor driving a decline in total revenue,” Frank Lopez-Balboa, Cumulus executive vp/treasurer/CFO, said in the company’s July 28 earnings call. National brands appear likely to increase ad spending in the second half of the year, however, according to B Riley Securities analyst Daniel Day.
